The standard advice is to focus on one habit at a time; that’s what I usually recommend, because it’s simply more difficult to overhaul your entire life in one month. You’ll have a far easier time establishing one habit than trying to establish twenty. That said, sometimes your life/circumstances/time line/tendency to be a glutton for punishment dictates that you take on more than one change at a time. You can be successful that way, too, and in the end you’ll have established a good amount of positive change in your life. But you have to focus on what you’re doing and plan how you’ll do it, or else you’ll get bogged down on Day 4.
Method: Create a Routine
Routines are great when you want to establish several related habits at once. For example, one month I worked on establishing a morning routine; it included getting up at a specific time, reading my Bible, having breakfast with my husband, straightening up the house, and posting on my blog. Those were all habits I needed to establish, and by creating a routine that incorporated them all into one time-frame, they became, essentially, one “big” habit to tackle at one point in the day. I didn’t have to try to remember different new habits at different points in the day.
Key: Find a common thread in your new habits and create a routine out of them. It doesn’t even have to be linked to a specific time of day, though having time as as trigger is usually helpful. Write down your routine and keep it close by. Set an alarm to remind yourself when it’s time to go through the routine, and check off the items one by one. Get yourself used to doing all of the items in the same order, and as the habits form, one item will trigger another.
Method: Make Appointments
If you want to form two or three habits that simply don’t fit into a routine together, make separate appointments for each one. Establish a time of day when each should be accomplished, and write it into your daily schedule just as you would a meeting, a dentist appointment, or a date. Find someone to meet with you, if possible, as you establish these habits. Perhaps you have a friend who wants to start jogging, too, so you make an appointment to meet everyday after work for a jog together.
Key: Making your appointment in a way that tells you it is serious, and knowing you will let someone down if you forget about it. If you never look at your planner, then writing down a new habit in it won’t help much. But if you depend on your planner to keep your life somewhat sane, it can be a great tool.
Method: Link to Habits You Already Have
For each new habit you want to form, create a link to an old (strong) habit you already have, such as eating dinner or watching your favorite show. Leave your set of hand weights on your couch; when you sit down to watch the show, do your arm-toning exercises. Or put a note up in your kitchen reminding you to call your Mom; when you step in to fix dinner, you will see it and can give her a call while you prepare the food.
Key: Pick a habit that is strong and hardly ever flexes. If you eat in half the time and eat out the other half, so your dinner routine isn’t the same every night, then linking to that habit might not work. Think of the things you do the same way, at the same place, and around the same time, every single day. Then find a way to link your new habit to one of those, and you’ll have an automatic daily trigger.
Method: Set Yourself Up
So if your new habit is to get up and go for a walk every morning, but that cup of coffee just sounds too tempting, get rid of the coffee maker! Have a friend keep it for a month. Put your walking shoes on the floor by your bed, and a note telling you to walk for your coffee. Plan your walking route to end or loop at a great coffee shop in the area, or treat yourself to a coffee on the way to work once you’ve taken your walk. Once you establish the habit, you can bring your coffee maker back home and let yourself enjoy the home java after your morning walk.
Key: Eliminate the temptation to skip the new habit by getting rid of it, at least temporarily. And make sure you have the gear you need for your new habit in an obvious place, so you can’t accidentally forget what you are supposed to do.
Always Keep a Record
No matter what your habits and what methods you use to establish them, keep a record somehow. Journal, jot notes in your planner, text message yourself, post it on your blog or social pages, something. You need to be able to see that you are making progress, and keeping a written record not only helps you do that, it also serves as an additional reminder and a way of noticing what made the habit more difficult and what made it easier to establish. You can use what you learn as you go on to establish more new habits.
Success is sweet. Remember, though, that failure happens sometimes. You might mess up a few times, but don’t throw out the whole effort. Stop, regroup; remind yourself of why you’re doing what you’re doing. Write down the end result. Think about the goal you have. Remember why it’s important to you to get there, and how this habit helps you reach your goal.
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